


spirits ahoy

by Civillain



Category: One Piece
Genre: Character Tags To Be Added - Freeform, Gen, Spirit - Freeform, kinda crack ngl
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:14:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21865813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Civillain/pseuds/Civillain
Summary: There's a messy scrawl on one of Nami's discarded maps, and Usopp can just barely make out the "FUK U SABO U ARENT DEAD" written with dark stains, the paper's edges half-charred. Hardly a second later, the stains spread to the tabletop, spelling: "GIVE THAT TO LUFFY PLEASE"He throws the map across the room and sinks to the floor.No one believes the liar when he tells them there's a ghost aboard.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 73





	spirits ahoy

Sometimes, Usopp can see flickers of something—something not quite _right _.__

 _ _They're small, barely there; and usually blink-and-you-miss-it moments, visible one moment, then gone the next. It's always_ only_ on the Thousand Sunny, _only _on the deck and_ only_ in the men's quarters.

(It freaks him the fuck out.)

"Haha!" 

Chopper laughs it off, nervously like he always does when Usopp tells him about it. He fiddles about with his hooves and stares down at his medicines and bandages intensely, marking down random things that make no sense when Usopp takes the time to read them. 'Signs of mental disorders? Schizophrenia? Nearest psychiatrist ward?' 

"Oh, Usopp! Don't tell ghost stories at night! That can be bad for you if you're trying to get good sleep, y'know!"

_That's not it, _he tries to say,_ I'm serious, there's actually something wrong out here and I think we're being—_

But Chopper waves him off, rapidly scribbling things down onto a clipboard—not before giving Usopp a head examination; he even throws Usopp a container of pills that's supposed to help with 'night terrors.'  
"Get some rest," Chopper warns him, before kicking him out of the ward. 

Just to be spiteful, Usopp decides that he won't.

When Franky works on repairs, he always leaves his supplies out in the open.  
That means that any wood boards, any nails and screws—those all get tossed around and kicked around the deck, because Franky can't spend even five damn minutes tidying up after himself.

So it's normal for people to trip, maybe squeal (in Zoro's case, he grunts and keeps walking with whatever it is still embedded in his _foot— ___ _ _) when they step on something sharp.__

__The dangers of living with Franky, Usopp muses._ _

__

__But then._ _

__It's the middle of the day, and the sun is bright—bright enough that when Usopp looks at the water he has to shield his eyes and scream "argh," and so reasonably, there'd be no reason to be scared. No ghosts, no monsters, no nothing, because it's the daytime and not the nighttime, where Usopp gets spooked by every bump in the night, every creak in the floorboard when Luffy sneaks out to steal food.  
(_Especially_ when Luffy sneaks out to steal food, because after that comes Sanji, who's always already there, waiting for his captain.

Menacingly.)

There's this problem.  
The sun is dazzling, gleaming, and warm, and it makes him feel safe, makes him feel free and easy, as though he's bigger than he actually is, as if he isn't just a speck on the ocean.  
The sun is just like Luffy.

And the problem with Luffy is that he's literally trouble personified, compacted into this one rubber boy who has too much energy and too big a heart for the world to carry. (Which is why he usually ends up destroying most of it, but they're pirates...right?)  
That being said:

The wooden board that had been leaning against the foremast flips over by itself, falling to the floor with a wet smack.

Usopp blinks. 

It's okay, he tells himself, ignoring the full-body shivers that leave him swaying where he stands—check the wind.  
He licks his finger and holds it up high above his head, so high up that his arms ache from the strain. He's desperate, yeah, but he needs to see this through properly. Just—just for assurance. He's not actually _scared _or anything, just cautious.__

__To his relief, something does push against his hand._ _

__To his horror, it feels more like someone spitting frantically than the wind.  
Usopp freezes, and lets his hand drop to his side, swinging loosely at his hip._ _

__

__And as if things couldn't get_ any worse,_ just—just _any _worse at all, he hears a very quiet, very little, "shit."__

____

==

Franky refuses to listen.

"Look, Usopp-bro," Franky sighs, "I need to finish this, okay?" 

He waves a screwdriver in one hand, a wrench in the other, and a hammer with his toes. "It's important. If I don't get this done today, I'll..." and he mumbles some excuse that means absolutely nothing to Usopp. Not after what he had just witnessed.

"Franky," he half-screams, "There's a GHOST. ON OUR SHIP."

Franky frowns at that, propping up his sunglasses with the screwdriver to look at Usopp directly in the eyes, clear disappointment radiating off every inch of his massive hundred-pound shoulders. "That's not cool, calling Brook out like that. Dude, I didn't think you'd be this kinda person."

"It's not Brook," Usopp insists. "There's—there's something else. Look, it moved something all by itself, y'see?" 

He points outside, onto the deck, where the board has somehow propped itself back up. 

"IT'S BACK!" he shrieks, and flails until he falls into his friend's lap.

Franky gives him a deadpan stare.


End file.
